Ponce Health Sciences University

A Healthy Partnership in St. Louis

St. Louis is a city that boasts a number of top tier educational institutions. From K-12 to the doctorate level, our city has been creating the great thinkers and doers of society for centuries. One of the newest additions to this legacy is Ponce Health Science University.

The mission of Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU) is to provide a world-class, culturally-competent, health sciences education to the population they serve, through innovative adaptive learning environments focused on the success of its students to become ethical practitioners and scientists. The PHSU vision is to build on its reputation as a prestigious academic and research leader educating underrepresented, diverse populations while focusing research efforts on solving global health disparities.

Services Utilized —

Analytics & Reporting

Content Development

Conversion Rate Optimization

PPC / Google Ads

SEO Services

Social Media

Web Design & Development

The Challenge —

As a newer option in the academic arena, PHSU needed a partner to help drive awareness and engagement for the brand. Given its commitment to helping provide a top tier education to underserved communities, the brand wanted to hit the ground running; getting in front of potential students early in their decision making process. Awareness was a big concern for the brand, but it wasn’t the only challenge. In addition to driving traffic, we need to help guide these users through to conversion; generating student inquiries for the admissions team. We also needed to differentiate the brand and educate the students on some of the more novel curriculum options.

Additionally, we needed to help create user paths for students at various points of the educational journey. Some students may look to PHSU as an alternative educational opportunity while they work toward a more traditional medical degree. All of the messaging and advertising took the various student needs into account.

Collage featuring diverse individuals in various academic settings, including graduates in caps and gowns, students in classrooms, a lab, and professionals in office environments, depicting educational and career achievements.

The Approach & Solution —

Seafoam Media tackled this challenge by digging into the needs of this unique demographic. We toured the facility, met students and faculty, and got to work. Some of our strategies included:

Audited existing campaigns and, in tandem with the brand, was able to optimize budgets to save and average of six figures per year, all while garnering a greater return on investment.
A reorganized website with more clear user paths
Reworked website content to be more clear, concise, and correct
While working with outside partners, created graphics and brand assets for use across the board.
New, original photography for the site, internal resources, and social channels
Clarified source medium attribution problems, creating more comprehensive reporting for the brand
Created monthly working meetings, devoting time to digging into the reporting and adjusting ad messaging and budgets to ensure that every dollar was well spent.
Worked with the team to build a clear and consistent brand style on social media
Partnered with PHSU to attend several major events at the university, chatting with students and taking photos to help humanize the brand.

The Results —

During our relationship with the brand, our strategies have garnered great success in both cost cutting measures and overall marketing efficiency. The effectiveness of our plans can clearly be seen in the results. Seafoam has only just begun in this arena. We look forward to continued success.

110.49%

Increase in conversions

10.07%

Decrease in cost per conversion

73.94%

Decrease in average cost per click